This year’s NCAA Women’s final was the most thrilling and “satisfying” in recent memory. That the LSU Tigers set a scoring record in defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes speaks volumes. LSU blitzed Iowa 102-85 to win the NCAA championship.
LSU defeats Iowa
Angel Reese is the ‘Bayou Barbie’ who led LSU. Caitlin Clark is the National Player of the Year who led Iowa. The hype surrounding their match-up made this game the most watched of the tournament (women’s and men’s).
As things turned out, Reese’s play in games to get LSU to the final earned her the tournament MVP award. But Jasmine Carson came off the bench to upstage them both.
Angel Reese’s hand gesture at Caitlin Clark prompts racist backlash
I suspect this NCAA final divided America along racial lines. You know, like America is during church services on any given Sunday. And it wasn’t just the racial instinct that had Whites rooting for White Iowa and Blacks rooting for Black LSU. Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder stoked the divide.
She went viral for saying White girls playing against Black girls was “similar to going to a bar fight.” That racist stereotype provoked understandable condemnation. And South Carolina coach Dawn Staley led the chorus.
Staley’s Black girls were defending national champions. And they entered Friday’s Final Four game against Bluder’s White girls with a perfect 36-0 record. Here is what Staley said after South Carolina lost to Iowa 77-73:
We’re not bar fighters. We’re not thugs. We’re not monkeys. We’re not street fighters. I do think that that’s sometimes brought into the game, and it hurts.
(Yahoo! Sports, April 2, 2023)
But Staley’s defensive message about her team’s style of play is not the real story. It’s Bluder’s offensive remark about Staley’s team.
Of course, “White” Iowa lost its first-in-the-nation nomination status to “Black” South Carolina. But avenging that loss wasn’t satisfying enough. No, Iowa resented South Carolina’s rise so much that it resorted to racist stereotypes to bring South Carolina down
LSU player said put respect on my name
LSU made clear they wanted to avenge the way Iowa treated South Carolina. Sure enough, they did, and in dominating fashion.
But the way she taunted a South Carolina player also disrespected the game. It featured Clark refusing even to defend her on the perimeter, arrogantly daring her to take the open shot. Morris called Clark out for “that disrespect” in a classy but indignant way.
That disrespect, which incensed Morris, was bad enough. But Iowa Coach Bluder compounded it by insinuating that Black players are thugs. And so here, in part, is what Morris said after the game:
Caitlin you had an amazing game. You’re a great player. But you gotta put some respect on LSU. You gotta put some respect on my name.
(ESPN, April 2, 2023)
Congratulations, LSU!